KARACHI: Monitoring cell’s revival stressed: Dengue cases on the rise
By Mukhtar Alam
KARACHI, Sept 23: Health practitioners have urged the provincial health department to reactivate its dengue monitoring cell as a large number of people have been reporting to the city hospitals with viral diseases transmitted by mosquitoes.
They are of the view that since the city and other parts of the province have received heavy rains this year as well, the relevant authorities must initiate a fully-fledged monitoring unit and also build capacity to cope with a possible surge in dengue cases.
A brief survey of various city hospitals by Dawn on Saturday revealed that the number of dengue patients had been rising since the beginning of September.
A source at the Aga Khan Hospital University said that as many as 24 of the patients reporting from various areas of the city had been tested positive for dengue from Sept 2 to Sept 22. Two of the dengue patients were still under treatment at the hospital, he added.
A senior doctor from the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre said that the hospital had received a dengue positive case 10 to 15 days ago, but had been discharged after treatment.
Another doctor from Patel Hospital, Gulshan-i-Iqbal said that the facility had received a number of dengue cases during the last two weeks and some of them had also been admitted for treatment as well.
Dr Zaki from Darul Sehat, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, said that 12 to 15 patients suspected of having contracted haemorrhagic fever had been brought to the hospital during this past week, majority of whom had been tested positive for dengue fever.
Symptoms
According to experts, dengue is endemic in both the urban and semi-urban areas of the province. Many of the patients develop mild febrile illness known as classical dengue fever characterised by a sudden onset of fever, intense headache, retro-orbital pain, joints and muscles pain and maculopapular rash.
Due to the impact of the virus, the platelet cells in the blood are depleted alarmingly and if proper treatment is not given it may prove fatal. Other severe forms of the disease are dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome (DSS), which commonly affect children.
The death of a girl due to DSS has lately been reported from a private hospital located on the Stadium Road. The hospital had received patients suspected of having contracted haemorrhagic fever and some of them had also been tested positive for dengue, from different areas of the city during the last two weeks or so.
Earlier, about 30 suspected cases of dengue and hemorrhagic fever were reported at a private city hospital in June. Nine of them had been tested positive for dengue fever while one of them died.
Last year, the dengue epidemic outbreak, which prevailed for about six months in the city, affected about 4,750 people and claimed around 50 lives.
Dr Rafiq Khanani of Infection Control Society of Pakistan said that he too had learnt about 200 cases, which had been reported to various hospitals and diagnostic labs in the city during the last two weeks.
He said that the government should reactivate its monitoring services so that the dengue virus could be checked at an early stage.
“We have received rains this year as well and one can still find stagnant water, considered to be suitable grounds for breeding of hazardous mosquitoes”, he added.
He urged the government to ensure an immediate intimation from the physicians and clinics functioning in various localities of the city and all the hospitals in private and public sector, in case they received any dengue fever patient. Only a timely management of DHF cases could help check the occurrence of any epidemic, he remarked.
